Fone Free Day: The Follow Up, Month 2

I realised (rather late) that I haven’t written a follow up post about this month’s Fone Free Day, which was on 30th April, 2017. Well, better late than never. So this post will tell you exactly how I fared this time.

Remember how last time I was just fine without my phone throughout the day, but just 15 minutes before midnight, I broke my vow and Pinterest-ed? :-X :O

I’m happy to tell you this time I did no such thing. I successfully stayed away from the phone, social media and the internet too, even though I came so close to it in the day while I was writing an assignment. Why? Because I spent most of my day working on my laptop, BUT only on a word document. That still counts as ‘no phones’, right? Right! 😉 (I couldn’t help it folks… I had a deadline to meet).

I confess the urge was really, really strong to just click on the browser and start surfing, but I stayed away, FOR A WHOLE 5 HOURS (patting my back)!

Then, I just couldn’t take being so close to the browser and not being able to browse. Especially when I kept getting notification pings on the desktop. So I gave up on work and decided to paint something.

This is what I sketched that day –

Which was painted in the a.m. the next day –

So, it was a pretty eventless day, I should say. It didn’t deserve a post of it’s own, but then the rules say that I must faithfully record the day of observance in a post, and so I did.

Improvements?

Yes! It was definitely easier this time than the last time, even though the last time I had a friend to occupy me through the day. This time I didn’t even have to try to leave my phone alone. Probably it was because I was working on an assignment, and so, was preoccupied, but I think it was because since that first time, I have consistently tried being phone-less for several hours in a day. With each passing day, I noticed that it was getting easier for me to do it. That’s why this time, it barely registered that I didn’t have a phone around me, or that I wasn’t ‘connected’ to the world. Even the next day, I was without the phone for a good 3-4 hours before I received calls about work.

So now you have it from the horse’s (or mares 😉 ) mouth that it does get easier once you start doing it regularly. Let me be honest and tell you that it’s not necessary that you’ll accomplish everything that you had in mind once you start staying away from the phone. That involves a whole different set of requirements and time management. This initiative isn’t about productively using your time away from the phone. It’s only about preventing us from wasting time over our phones. How you use that freed up time, or whether you use it to visit dreamland, is upto you 😉

But take it from me, it DOES free up some time. As many as 2 hours in the day for me, which for a working momma is a lot!

So the next time I really hope that some of you will earmark a day, or a few hours in a day, or a few hours a day (if you’re really committed) to stay phone-free. I won’t promise you that you’ll find hidden talents that you never knew existed. But I can promise you that you’ll have time for yourself.

Only one day because the rest of the day I can’t afford to stay away from work calls and the internet, at least because of work. But like I said in the post, I’ve been constantly keeping away for longer periods now. As for the art, it doesn’t happen every day, much as i want it to. Yes I like the sketch better too. In fact I’ve said before that I sketch better than I paint, but damn it! I want to paint better 😩😩😩😩😩

It’s going well. Once I finish my first painting I will mail you😊😊 It will take time, because I have classes only on weekends and the board is in class. Oh babe, I’m loving it. Finally I’m holding a brush in my hand.😁😁

GREAT! It’s such an incredible feeling to make something with your own hands, isn’t it? That’s why I’m crazy about crafting. I wish I had the talent that some people have to craft and create. The things in my head would come to life. But alas. But I hope you do very very well. Keep at it. Practice makes one perfect 😊

Oh… That’s not what I was expecting to hear. How have you been promoting it so far? And did you self publish? I don’t have a topic requirement. You can write or paint or draw anything under the sun as long as it’s not x rated 😉

I have hardly been promoting it at all. I went home right after self-publishing it. When I returned, my team lead left so I had to step up at work. April I was busy with NaNoWriMo Camp (I wrote 50K words!). I wrote a short story late last night. The plan is to start sending of more of them to magazines. Let me think of something to write. I will let you know.

Wow! You’ve been busy. And how! Good work. If u may ask, what magazines have you been published in? I’d love to read your articles/stories. No issues. Send me your article whenever you want. This is a never ending series 😀

Nice to see that you kept away from it all, the entire day. Good job, Pradita. Do you paint on other days too or just the day when you don’t use your phone? In one of the comments you mentioned that you don’t paint everyday, I do understand that. I love your art work. Is it a water color painting? Is there something apart from water colors on the hair? Like crayons or charcoal? I may be wrong.

Thanks for reading and commenting 😊 Yes I don’t paint often enough because of time constraints. You’re right in observing that there’s some thing else apart from the watercolors on the paper. I’d stared this sketch with Aquarelle pencils. Then I decide to paint it with not only the Aquarelle pencil pigment but actual watercolors too. I think I dhouldnt have. The sketch looked just fine. How about you? What’s your favorite medium to paint in?

Good morning di
At starting ,1-2 days I followed strictly after that partially actually bina emails aur WhatsApp group k baat Ni bnti sari important information ATI h CLG vgrh ki.
Exams will be started on 13th 😀

Thanks but mera aim blog develop karna nahi hai. I have to become a published writer and soon. And I’m already wasting time on the blog that I should be dedicating to the book instead. I’m waiting for the ongoing Novella to end,then I’m getting back to the book.